Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Ritual Spells

This is being overcomplicated. The point of ritual casting is to activate a spell without a spell slot outside of combat.

So, fine, make it like short rest is right now. You cast a ritual spell and bam. It is active. Instantly. Then, in Multiplayer, no big deal. No vote necessary. However, it is only possible to activate outside of Turn-Base mode. If in Turn Based, it costs a spell slot.

So, if Wynari the druid wants to Speak With Animals in the Druid Grove, she can activate it with the push of a button, no spell slot used, and then walk up to animals and talk. However, if fighting gobbos near Blighted Village and she runs into a dog, she uses a slot

We don't need the second option for this exact spell at least. You can't talk during a combat.

Lol. Right. I suppose that's true. Either way, it would be nice if Speak with Animals did not use a spell slot for druids.

I am hoping that it'll change to where there are moments one can talk in combat, such as ask for Aid from a neutral party or even convince the attackers of something that makes sense.

Nope. You still don't need it. For first case Larian's AI already has quite simple and decent logic: it either joins the fight on one of the sides, either considers itself noncombatant and runs for hiding. For second case we can have it only specially prepared and scripted by Larian, like when Ethel ends the fight to ask to spare her, in this case they may add casting option in the dialog if needed.

+1 for ritual spells. Presuming they are pretty close to how 4e had them. Long cast times with material components and such.

I didn't realize that Identify was still a thing in 5e. I'm not really a fan of the term "dumbed down" but that really is what this is and really does kinda sadden me with how much Larian has taken away from us by not understanding how all the D&D systems interact together.

For the first run through a game at least, having to Identify items added a bit of suspense to the looting. You KNEW there was going to be a few cursed items of some kind thrown in to the mix. When you were in the middle of a dungeon and starting to become overweight you had to decide things like "Am I willing to bet this magic bag I have is a Bag of Holding and not a Bag of Devouring" or risk using the neat flaming sword you just looted but aren't sure of in the next fight because a rust monster ate your last sword?

I do get that some people think having to use spell slots or scrolls for Identifying items they find is a "chore". Personally I feel it is simply part of the game's management systems. Deciding how many, if any, Identify scrolls to buy with your limited gold to take along with you into the next dungeon and save your self a spell slot or two was just part of balancing out your team's resources.

Gods know we could use the gold sink in BG3. Between the overabundance of sellable loot items and the affect of CHA on prices there is sooo much money available to the players. That is even before you turn around and loot the vendor blind due to the ease of pickpocket in the game.

Edit to add: Plus maybe if players had to Identify items we wouldn't have a new post every other week or so on Steam/Reddit asking "Why do I get Bane when I attack an enemy?"

Right now we don't even know if the gear in BG3 will be randomized at all or if the same gear will be in the same places. If it is all the same stuff then Identify becomes kind of pointless.

Honestly I would rather have all the same stuff than go and have the kind of procedurally generated gear we had in DOS2.

Wouldn't be pointless for a first playthrough and activated abilities could be locked behind identify, so that one has to use a scroll or spell slot or the ritual to be able to use the activated abilities of an item.
Also as far as I know, identify doesn't always reveal curses.

I thought it did identify cursed items, but could easily be wrong. It has been forever for me.

@Blackheifer On loot personally I'd like a mix of specific special "Named items" and some light randomization of non-named gear. I absolutely do NOT want to go the full on random loot route. Boss loot for the most part should be set, however random stuff found in crates and such could easily be randomly generated with powers off a set list.

Generally speaking, no, Identify does not reveal curses. The DMG, in the section about cursed items, says: "Most methods of identifying items, including the identify spell, fail to reveal such a curse, although lore might hint at it. A curse should be a surprise to the item’s user when the curse’s effects are revealed."

Some cursed items countermand this in their specific case by noting that Identify does reveal the curse -- they say so explicitly where it does. Some also react uniquely to Identify, giving false information - the cursed items that do so say so specifically (for example, the stone of ill luck shows up as a luckstone when Identify is cast on it).

I do realize how rituals are somewhat futile in the context of BG3 and the camping exercise. Perhaps mod camping (do you need ingredients? only in certain locations? only at certain intervals?).
However, there is the alternative: mod rituals. Rituals, just in terms of how I visualize a "ritual", are mis-handled in the 5e. What if rituals were extended casting regimens that let you access higher-level spells or cast them in tandem with other spellcasters at much high strength?

Way more valuable. Find Familiar, Detect Magic, Comprehend Languages, Identify, Alarm, Tensor's Floating Disk, Unseen Servant, Magic Mouth, Water Breathing, Leomund's Tiny Hut, Phantom Steed, Rary's Telepathic Bond; are all very useful spells. The only reason I don't have a problem with Wizards learning spells from other classes, at the moment, is that there is no Ritual Casting yet. Not the same thing I know, but kind of a consolation.

Love the list. Thanks. Illustrates my point more. Look at all the spells someone could cast outside of combat with no spell slot used. Many are complaining wizards suck. They wouldn't suck so bad if they had all their spells at their disposal and the ability to cast more spells via ritual casting.

Agreed. Just no repeat of the DOS2 loot system. Its so silly to be replacing almost all your gear every level. I would rather have hard to acquire items, hard to find (random) items or hard to craft items but as set pieces that are good until end game.

I agree, but I just don't see most of those getting into the game. Find Familiar is the only one on the entire list at this point that makes sense and its already in game. The rest would be a waste.